Spring Ants

[Basilgirl]

How do I get rid of those itsy bitsy ants that have invaded my kitchen? I don't want to use toxic substances. My sister told me they don't like cinnamon, so my counters are sprinkled with expensive McCormick Saigon Cinnamon, and my kitchen smells like a big Snickerdoodle, and they really seem to not like it, but they traverse the perimeter of my cinnamon fort.

Any ideas?

[jsolomon]

Fill a sink with hot water. Add dishsoap. Mix to froth. Wet a dishcloth in the hot soapy water. Wipe down all counter surfaces, rinsing the dishcloth often.

Drain water.

Repeat.

The soap will remove a significant amount of the trail marker chemicals the ants will leave behind, and soap does not taste good to ants, so they try not to walk where there is soap residue.

Also, soaps munge up their spiracles where they breathe, so wet soapy water suffocates them.

[petite tête de chou]

Also, make sure that you have no sugar bowls, fruit or vegetables on your counter. Do the dishes immediately, keep the garbage emptied daily, wipe counters constantly, etc. Check outside of your house along the foundation for ants, set traps. They're a pain to get rid of but it can be done. I know. Bastards!

[dvs]

i put out those ant traps (we call them ant cookies) that are child safe (as we have a wee one). the ants swarm for a few days (i tend to kill them w/ whatever cleaner i have near) and then they're GONE!~!

[Beanie]

I use this product and it is excellent. Squeeze a drop of liquid on little square pieces of cardboard and place them around the counter, baseboards, etc. The ants tend to come out at night and will cluster in bunches, lapping up the liquid. It will freak you out to see a huge blob of ants on each piece of cardboard. The ants will then go to their nests and die and kill other ants as well. Within a day or two the problem will be solved. I bought this stuff at Wal-mart and swear by it.

[Smithy]

Beanie, your link doesn't seem to work. What is the stuff?

[scubadoo97]

One of the ant gel baits that contain Fipronil does the trick. Maxforce or Combat are easy to find. The ants will swarm all over this stuff and then in a day or two they are gone. Gone at least for a while. I know there is a reason these insects have been on this earth longer than we have and will be here when we're gone. There is no way to completely get rid of them but control is an option.

[jsolomon]

Beanie, your link doesn't seem to work.  What is the stuff?

←

There are one too many w's in the url.

Try this one.

Edited May 12, 2006 by jsolomon (log)

[scott123]

It's a two pronged attack. First, you want to remove all sources of food by cleaning religiously and making sure everything is in air tight/impregnable containers. At the same time, you want to get those cardboard pieces that Ilene mentioned. Nothing else works as well. They're boric acid based, I believe, which makes them one of the least toxic solutions.

Btw, they may not actually be ants. From the research that I've done, the super tiny ones might be aphids.

[Betts]

No kitchen should be without Terro. Just put a drop on the cardboard chip and put it near where the little buggers are coming in - 2 days ... antless kitchen.

[Lordof7]

I'll second the vote for those "Ant hotel" cookie things. Supposedly safe for pets and kids, they can be tucked in out-of-reach places. I watched in amazement as a line of ants entered the kitchen from the stove hood, went down to the bait thing, and back out for several hours. Next day, fewer ants were making the trip, and many were dying. Haven't seen one since. I think we bought the cheapest ones at the grocery store - may have been Combat.

[tangent]

Our local garden center laughs at us, as our neighborhood "was built on a giant anthill!" Things the realtor doesn't tell you! (Yeah, I know - it could be worse. We looked at one place, and asked "What's behind the hedge?" Realtor didn't know, so we looked. Train tracks; main freight line through town. Dodged that bullet!)

[/tangent]

[constanela]

If you can find out where they are coming in, you can plug the hole with a glop of Vaseline applied with a q-Tip. They'll find a new spot the next day, but you can systematically eliminate them this way.....worked in my bathroom this winter, again when they found the dog's dinner bowl and didn't have to use any pesticides or ant traps. I assume they went and found some easier pickings. You can also kill the ones who are already there with rubbing alcohol in a spritz bottle.

[Philanthrophobe]

This borax-based liquid works well too, but not such a good idea if pets and kids have access. But we've used it for years with excellent results.

The Gardens Alive site has some great stuff.